Hilo Bay 10k

A nice Sunday morning run along Hilo Bay turned out to be quite a treat today. The Big Island Road Runners (BIRR) put on a fundraising race today to help fund the scholarships they give annually to area high school runners who plan on continuing in college. This race wasn't quite as big as the Waiakea HS Warrior 3 mile a few weeks ago but it was a good race.

IT was really warm and humid by the end of it, as there was no breeze so early in the morning. I've been training well, and it paid off, I won in a time of 34:28, much slower than my track days, but I'm working on it. I won a gift certificate to a local Italian seafood restaurant, Pescatore, that should probably be used when I have a visitor come out this way...

Yesterday I spent the better part of the afternoon at Honolii cove beach a few miles north of Downtown Hilo, watching surfers and boogie boarders ride the waves. The picture on the left above is of a surfer at Honolii beach a few days ago when I was just passing buy and stopped to check it out. THe pic on the right is me and Dad at Akaka Falls State park 15 miles north of Hilo. The falls are around 400 feet tall, pretty amazing.

It rained for about 5 minutes, but looked like it would rain for about an hour. That would have been enough to clear out a beach in MN, but people just don't seem to care that it rains when they are at the beach here.

Today, I'm going to another beach up the coast for a BBQ with a guy I met, who actually went to school with my brother's fiancee's brother. Confusing enough? The sun is shining outside and I'm getting picked up in a few minutes, so I need to go pack a few things and put sunscreen on, without it I become a baked haole brah!

Forrest Gump in Hawaii???

Nice title huh. Well I just finished my run after work and I got poured on! It rained close to an inch during the 70 minutes I was out on the roads, but it didn't rain for about 40 minutes of it! Go figure. The rain came from all directions, all sizes, and even came up through my shoes. The best part was that I loved every second of it. The rain felt so good compared the humidity I've been running in most of the week. It has been drier than usual here, having not rained most of the last week or so. I guess I can expect more days like today to make up for the 27 inches of rain we average each month.

The running is going well, I have plenty of time to do it since I've decide to start my work days at 7am and work until 3:30. I have my afternoons to unwind and hit the roads. I enjoy work so far, I'm getting pretty well acquainted with the staff and doctors at the hospital and am getting used to the daily routine. I guess some of the nurses and OT's are getting together to BBG and snorkel at Richardson's beach this weekend, so I think I'll have to check that out. That is, after the Hilo bay 5k/10 on Sunday morning, put on by the Big Island Road Runner's club. Yesterday I had another day off, and I spent it looking for cars, checkin out my loan options and biking to different beaches. Before I knew it, I had put about 25 miles on my bike! I checked out the nearest surf spot, Honolii paka, but I haven't surfed yet...and I may not get around to it before the waves leave this side of the island for the "winter".

Tomorrow is my first day covering the entire acute hospital by myself, which will be a busy day, but I know I can manage. I've gotten a good feel for how to prioritize the workload the way it best works for the department. I'm looking forward to exploring more of the town/island this weekend, I may ride up to Akaka falls or Volcano to check those out again. I'm also looking forward to heading to the ADA convention in Honolulu the following weekend for three days. Work is flying me and 2 other Dietitians there and putting me up in the Ala Moana hotel, right near downtown and Waikiki beach. IT should be a blast and I hope to listen to some interesting speakers.

I better get going, I just got some Big Island Pizza delivered. Gotta Kau Kau (that means eat)

Day off

I enjoyed a day off from work today, but I spent all day running around town, literally. I biked all over to take care of some errands; check out some cars, get my bike checked out (the fender doesn't fit), picked up some food, survived the crowds at walmart (yuck! there's a walmart here) and went for a run.

The running...is awesome here. I've been busy finding some "cherry" routes as they say out here. It's impossible to run more than a few miles without having to climb or descend a big hill. This is a welcomed experience after running for 5 years in the flats of the Red River Valley (Not that there's anything wrong with that), but I like a change of pace, literally. I just finished writing all the local races into my new calender/organizer that I got from the disgusting walmart. As I looked at the 150+ running and triathlon in the state-wide endurance sports event calendar, I was watching a local TV station.

The show was all about community events and entertainment, showcasing different indivduals and groups holding fundraisers and celebrations. The best part was the name, "Eh, U da kine, ah!" and there was this huge Hawaiian dude hosting it, laughing at almost anything the people being interviewed said. I have been hooked on that channel (when I do watch TV while I eat dinner) because they play mostly local Island music videos or surfing competitions.

I'm enjoying all the little things that are different about life here so far, even though I don't quite feel like I live here yet. I like how the people laugh about how much rain we get here, I was always used to people grumbling about snow or wind in Grand Forks, and I was one of them. Don't get me wrong, I will miss Minnesota and North Dakota, but right now I'm enjoying my time here. I don't even feel bad that I have to work the Holiday weekend! I'm in Hawaii!

For now, I gotta rest up for an early day of work tomorrow. I promise, pictures soon. Aloha!